So much has been made on the monetary costs of our war/occupation in Iraq. What about the physical costs to our troops and their families?

KGO radio talk show host, Ray Taliaferro, talked about that with his callers. He mentioned a WashPo article that talked about the rate of suicides.

One caller mentioned that the mental toll was probably worse than the deaths. I'd really say that the mental toll was as bad (not wanting to diminish the deaths). Another caller says he was a crisis intervention cop, and he tried to talk a former Iraq vet through a suicide threat only to hear the former vet shoot himself in the neck.

This thing about PTSD is real with the Iraq vet returnees. George and crew really eff'd up this one.

Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War.

LA Times runs this short video on the Marlboro Marine. He came back in one piece, but not all there mentally. The got talked about how he came so close to pulling the trigger of a gun he had stuck in his mouth. He just cannot shake-off the mental imagery of him killing the "enemy".

The number of active-duty soldiers who kill themselves or attempt to is the highest it’s been since the Army began keeping records almost 30 years ago. Three hundred fifty soldiers attempted suicide or injured themselves in 2002, compared with 2,100 in 2007.

This is a very sad and disturbing commentary on the mental state of our troops. What is wrong with a nation that cannot grasp the awfulness of this war?

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

WASHINGTON - Roughly one in every five U.S. troops who have survived the bombs and other dangers of Iraq and Afghanistan now suffers from major depression or post-traumatic stress, an independent study said Thursday. It estimated the toll at 300,000 or more.

As many or more report possible brain injuries from explosions or other head wounds, said the study, the first major survey from outside the government.

Only about half of those with mental health problems have sought treatment. Even fewer of those with head injuries have seen doctors....

And the thing that sticks to the back of my mind -- GW Bushy-baby saying that the war is "worth it" -- worth the death on both sides. Worth the disfiguring and disabling injuries. Worth the mental effed-up-ed-ness.

Worthless seems too good for the War Chimp. This implies a value of zero, which is much more credit than I would like give the SOB. Unworthy almost does it. Scum sucking black hole personality comes even closer.

_________________“I'm not a member of any organized party. I'm a Democrat.”-Will Rogers

Addressing concerns about the US military's capability of dealing with yet another conflict at a time when forces are purportedly stretched thin, Mullen said war with Iran "would be 'extremely stressing' but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing specifically to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force," Tyson notes.

Mullen's assertion comes a day after American forces reportedly fired warning shots at Iranian speedboats in the Persian Gulf, a confrontation that Iran denies took place.

A prior incident involving U.S. forces in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian speedboats in January of this year--which Republican White House candidates used (with the notable exception of Ron Paul) as a saber-rattling opportunity during a nationally-televised debate--was later discredited as a virtual fabrication.

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

Among the seemingly innumerable scandal-worthy stories which have so marked the war in Iraq is one growing tragedy which has been largely ignored: shoddy electrical work by U.S. contractors at military bases leading to numerous electrical fires, troops receiving painful shocks, and even death by electrocution.

In January 2008, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old weapons expert, was electrocuted while showering in Baghdad's green zone. According to a criminal investigation by the Army, an electrical water pump on the building's roof shorted out from not being properly grounded when installed. On March 19 his parents sued the contractor, KBR Inc., for Sgt. Maseth's death.

According to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette:

"The Defense Contract Management Agency, we believe, authorized [the contractor] to the tune of millions of dollars to make the repairs. And they never made the repairs," Mr. Cavanaugh said. "And we don't know why. A simple repair -- just ground the building -- and Ryan would be alive today."

On July 1, New York Times Investigative Reporter James Reisen, author of the 2006 book "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," took up the subject. According to Reisen, General David Petraeus stated to Congress that 13 Americans had been electrocuted since the invasion of Iraq: 12 soldiers and one contractor.

As recently as July 11, KBR Inc. electricians told a Senate panel tasked to investigate the deaths that their employer used inexperienced, non-English speaking workers to install electrical systems. Many experienced contractors, they claimed, were dismissed after raising cautions over the work.

MORE AT THE LINK

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

How fast can things fall apart is the name of the game for the past few years.

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

Vets are killing themselves in growing numbers, but the government sees suicides as a way to lower the official average processing time of claims.

This year, in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 7-13), the Army chose the theme "Shoulder-to-Shoulder: No Soldier Stands Alone," "to emphasize the strength of the Army Family when it works together to tackle tough problems."

It has not been a good week for the Army Family in spite of the special attention.

On Sept. 8, an altercation between a 22-year-old Fort Hood soldier and his commanding officer, a 24-year-old lieutenant, ended when the soldier first shot and killed his officer and then turned his gun on himself. Both were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, which had returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq in December. The division is currently in training to redeploy back to Iraq this winter for another 12 months -- which in all probability will turn out to be the as good an explanation as any for the tragedy.

Then on Sept. 9, a VA report acknowledged that suicide rates for young male Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans hit a record high in 2006, the last year for which official records are available. Last week, the Portland Tribune reported that in 2005, the last year for which complete Oregon data has been compiled, 19 Oregon soldiers died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. That same year, 153 Oregon veterans of all ages, serving in various wars, committed suicide.

After five years of war in Iraq, Marine suicides doubled between 2006 and 2007, and Army suicides are at the highest level since records were first kept in 1980. Reported suicide attempts jumped 500 percent between 2002 and 2007....

It's not sexy, but it's an issue our presidential candidates could stand to address.